At their meeting on Aug. 2, Cache Creek council discussed what to do about repairing the concession/washroom building at the rear of the Cache Creek park.
A staff report on the issue noted that the building contains public washrooms and a kitchen area, and has been in use for decades. However, flooding in recent years has damaged the interior: the washrooms are in disrepair, and there is damage to cabinets in the kitchen and to the hot water tank. There is also an issue with the sewer line: the ground above it has settled in such a way that there is now a significant drainage issue, and repairing it would mean excavating the line.
The estimated cost to make the washro0oms usable is $10,000, but the concern is that if the work is done, high water in the future could cause the same damage and incur further repair costs. The park has flooded several times since 2015, most recently in 2020, when it was under several feet of water after severe flooding in early July.
A suggestion was to repair the pool washroom building at the front of the park, at about the same estimated cost, and make the washrooms there accessible to the public. It was noted that the pool washroom building is above the high water mark, and is unlikely to be affected by flooding. Future plans could include renovating the pool washroom building with proper insulation and heating so that the washrooms are available year-round. The concession building would be decommissioned and used for storage.
CAO Damian Couture said that either of the proposed actions would likely be a short-term fix. “Ultimately we need to think of a long-term fix as well to create a permanent solution.” He added that two stalls at the pool washroom are currently open, but are closed when public works staff leave for the day because of issues with vandalism. The concession washrooms have a timer that can be set to close them automatically at a set time.
Coun. Wendy Coomber said she was in favour of repairing the concession building because of its proximity to the ball diamonds, which are fairly well used. “To have the players have to run up to the end of the park to use the washroom might not go over very well.”
Coun. Lisa Dafoe was also in favour of repairing the concession washrooms, adding that she felt the park could do with both sets of washrooms being available. Coun. Sue Peters said she liked the idea of a washroom in the centre of the park rather than at one end or the other.
Mayor Santo Talarico said council will need to look at future plans for the park, but that in the meantime getting the concession washrooms usable was a good idea.
“If we can repair it to the point where it’s usable for this year, then spend some serious time deliberating what we need to do to mitigate the flood issue in the park [that] we’ve experienced over the last 35 years, I think we’ll come up with a solution to what we should do with what.”
Council voted unanimously to proceed with repairs to the concession building, and asked staff to come back with an actual cost.
editorial@accjournal.ca
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter